Five Companies Lauded for Reducing Pesticide Risk

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has presented awards to five members of the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) for their sustained excellence in integrated pest management (IPM).

“These awards demonstrate that innovative pest management practices really do work,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, “EPA is helping growers and other pesticide users make the transition to safer practices and thereby reduce pesticide risk to people and the environment.”

The awardees related to the strucutural pest control industry were:

IPM Institute of North America, Inc. (Madison, Wis.) for creating and marketing its innovative program for IPM certification for schools and pest control companies.

U.S. Department of Defense Armed Forces Pest Management Board (Washington, D.C.) for its extraordinary level of commitment to IPM and outstanding efforts to prevent and manage disease vectors and pests.

PESP is an EPA partnership for reducing risks posed by pesticide use to human health and the environment in both agricultural and urban settings. Established in 1994 with six charter members, PESP has grown to include almost 200 members.

A recent story in the Boston Globe reviews the work of Tom Kunz, a Boston University bat expert who is investigating "white-nose syndrome" which is killing bats throughout the Northeast.

At least 1 million bats have died in the past three years from a mysterious disease called white-nose syndrome, posing serious questions for our environment. One Boston University biologist is leading the hunt for answers.
Thomas Kunz, a biology professor and director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation at Boston University, shows the remains of several little brown bats found on the floor of Aeolus Cave in southern Vermont. The animals were killed by white-nose syndrome, which has decimated bat populations in New York and spread across the Northeast and into South Atlantic States. Preeminent scientists are calling the deaths the most precipitous decline of North American wildlife in human history.

Compact has been specifically designed for use in urban and rural environments and it is completely portable, providing up to 360-degree dispersal with the additional benefit of solar power capability to allow independence from all external power supplies. It can also be mains powered and can be wall mounted as a single unit or as a double unit on a scaffold pole for 360-degree output.

The product is an alternative to other bird control products. Often the use of Scarecrow’s unique bio-acoustic dispersal goes unnoticed by the general public in the vicinity, the company reports.

Compact can be used in areas such as food production plants, parks, warehouses, shopping centers and other outdoor urban areas. It can be set up to play when any bird movement is detected using infrared sensor technology. Using fully automatic and random play, it can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without human intervention. Compact may be powered from 15-volt dc, 110V/250V ac mains supplies, or from a leisure battery, fully maintained by solar panels.

WCS Now Distributes and Sells Pair of UK Trapping Devices

EAST GRANBY, Conn. — Wildlife Control Supplies announced that they have gained approval for the distribution and sale of two trapping devices in the U.K.

Effective Oct. 1, 2009, the Collarum and the Tube Trap have been approved by the British Parliament. Effective Oct. 1, 2009, both of these devices have been added to the Spring Traps Act, which is a requirement of all traps prior to offering them for sale in the U.K..

For 2-plus years WCS has been working with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and their U.K. distributor, the Magnum Trap Co., during which the traps were put through a rigorous testing regimen to ensure satisfactory performance for humaneness and selectivity. The approved Tube Trap, which is lethal, is now legal for sale and use for squirrel and mink. The Collarum, which is a species-specific, live capture device for canines, is solely being used to control nuisance fox.

WCS plans on seeking approval for the distribution and sale of these devices in Ireland and Scotland, in the near future. For more information regarding these devices visit www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com.

Superior Pest Elimination Achieves Green Shield Certification

Superior Pest Elimination has earned Green Shield Certification for its "Superior Pest Solutions Green Services." Superior is the 21st provider in the nation to achieve this third-party credential. Customers in New York and New Jersey now have the option of choosing the Superior's newly certified service, ensuring less toxic pest control. The accreditation is offered by the independent, non-profit IPM Institute of North America, which verifies company performance using a rigorous, on-site evaluation that examines 63 separate aspects of the pest control service.
Green pest control strictly adheres to the principles of Integrated Pest Management, or IPM. Superior Pest Elimination focuses on solving complex and simple issues alike with long lasting, preventive strategies. Michael Orlino, Superior's president of field operations, has focused his efforts particularly on the IPM principle of exclusion. "Rodent proofing is a technique that has helped us reach the cause of a number of problems we've encountered," Mr. Orlino reports "We seal up areas and use exclusion to keep pests out."

Superior Pest Elimination has been committed to IPM since 2004, when Orlino initiated the program to protect his customers, staff and the environment from unnecessary pesticide exposure. "Superior pursues non-chemical methods and then only uses IPM-approved gels, such as Avert, when absolutely necessary," added Mr. Orlino. Superior Pest Elimination's "green" approach is effective - Superior Pest Elimination uses inspection, monitoring and proper identification to determine the root cause of pest problems and find a solution.

Superior has found great success in their IPM program through innovative strategies of diagnosis and control." We've taken apart sizeable factory machinery to deal with the origin of a problem. We recently disassembled and reassembled a large piece of equipment to resolve a difficult cockroach problem. The roaches had been inside the machine, and spreading from there," explained Mr. Orlino.

"Green Shield Certified is based on IPM practices that require the company to focus on solving the root cause of an issue, rather than the potentially unnecessary application of pesticides. Superior Pest Elimination's Superior Pest Solutions Green Services achieves effective pest control through initial identification and diagnosis," explained Dr. Thomas Green, president of the IPM Institute of North America.

Green Shield Certified is operated by the IPM Institute of North America, Inc., an independent, non-profit organization based in Madison, Wis. Modeled after the Institute's award-winning IPM STAR program for schools, Green Shield Certified is available to pest control companies and services, as well as facilities other than schools.